Wednesday, January 20, 2010

vegetable harvest surprises

Yesterday afternoon I headed out to the vegetable garden to resume my long-neglected weeding tasks but got distracted (funny how easily that happens when one's supposed to be weeding) by what appeared to be baby sorrel. I'd seeded some sorrel in that area quite awhile ago and never saw any results and pretty much forgot about it. I tore off a tiny leaf and tasted it: yep, definitely sorrel--cool!



To me, sorrel tastes like a tangier, more lemony, more delicate version of baby spinach and is really good in an omelette with a little chevre or cream cheese.

I also harvested some beets, dinosaur kale, swiss chard, and more cartoon carrots. And although I harvested virtually all my lettuces before our recent hard freezes, the leaf lettuces I covered managed just fine.







That flat leaf parsley plant with the leaf lettuces is at least two feet by two feet. No complaints here!

8 comments:

SomeLikeItHot said...

The veggies look great! What time's dinner?

Rock rose said...

They may not be Texas sized but home grown vegs of any size are a great treat. Sorrel, sounds like it might be an interesting leaf to try.

TexasDeb said...

Those carrots are so gorgeous - they deserve to be painted (then eaten!).

Maybe I'll have similar luck with some chervil seed I sowed. Nothing came of it but I'll go outside and speak loudly of some sorrel I heard about that made a late appearance and see what happens then.....

Iris said...

SomeLikeItHot--Thanks! Roasted, the carrots were particularly sweet.

Lancashire rose--I grew sorrel last year and found it to be not at all fussy. The first time I tried eating it was in a recipe called "Englishman's Omelette"!

TexasDeb--Thank goodness I took pictures: I think painting them is a great idea. I love your chervil-encouraging idea, too! Let me know if it works.

LindaCTG said...

Wow, look at that! They are all so pretty. I keep meaning to plant sorrel. Will add to my list. And I will try carrots again. . .I've never had your luck but they sure are yummy-looking.

Iris said...

Linda--Thanks! I've planted sorrel in the past, and it was fairly carefree and hardy. I haven't had allot of trouble with carrots either, but I am terrible about "properly" thinning them!

Kathleen Scott said...

Hi Iris, thanks to your pictures, I'm thinking where I can try carrots and sorrel next winter. They look too good to miss. I had sorrel in Florida. Great in salads but I really loved it as a hurricane survivor.

Iris said...

Kathleen Scott--Oh I'm glad my funky carrots have inspired you! I've found sorrel to be hardy, too.